Against All Odds: George Kalmar’s Legacy

George Kalmar’s life is the story of a true Jewish hero.

George Kalmar was born in 1922 in Budapest, Hungary where he enjoyed a peaceful childhood until 1943, when he was conscripted into Hungary’s forced labor brigade. His division was taken to the Polish-Russian border where they worked 10 hours a day, building tank traps against the advancing Russian front.

When his school friend was killed beside him from a misfired mortar shell in the trench they were building for a tank trap, he realized that he had to get away from the front. “We heard the mortar shell coming in. You knew where they were going to land just by the sound,” he recalled. “We heard this one coming in short. My friend went left and I went right, the mortar landed and there was nothing left of him.”

He realized that staying in the labor camp meant minimal chance of survival. He decided to take his chances escaping. “This was the writing on the wall. I gave myself only a 10% chance of survival if I escaped, against certain death if I stayed.” His ability to plan and prepare, was the foundation of his survival and the hallmark of his lifetime of success against incredible odds.

He obtained forged passport papers and conned a German uniform officer into taking a picture of him in the officer’s uniform. According to his new passport, George Kalmar was now a uniformed Nazi officer. To escape the camp, he bribed a lumberjack to take him down the river on the felled logs that were floated down on giant river rafts.

Capture and Liberation

He returned to Budapest and joined the Hungarian underground, eventually becoming an officer in the Hungarian army. George was eventually caught by the Nazis when one of his father’s former workers turned him in. He was severely beaten and jailed with about 50 other Jews. Each day a few of them were taken to the banks of the Danube River and shot. This would have been George’s fate as well if not for the arrival of the liberating Russian Army on December 25th, 1944.

George Kalmar lost a total of 42 relatives at the hands of the Nazis, but he succeeded in hiding his mother with a non-Jewish family. His father, on the other hand, refused to allow himself to be hidden for fear that he would accidentally give them both away. George reluctantly followed his father’s wishes, but regretted it for the rest of his life. His father was eventually taken to a labor camp and miraculously survived until the end of the war, but mysteriously disappeared on his way back home after he was liberated, never to be seen again – a loss that George never came to terms with.

Endless Opportunities

A few years after the war, George obtained an exit visa to leave Hungary and met his future wife in Linz, Austria. The two were married in 1946 and soon thereafter applied to an ad for furriers that were needed in Canada. On October 1st, 1948 they docked into the Halifax port after an 11-day, harrowing, Atlantic crossing that came in contact with the tail end of a hurricane. “It was paradise to me because I was in a country where a man could make decisions for himself – a land where the opportunities were endless,” he recalled in a 1988 newspaper interview.

They soon arrived in Toronto with $7.50 to their name, $6.00 of which they spent on their hotel room. Despite his lack of English, George managed to get a job the very next day, making $20 a week lugging bales of fabric up a ladder. Having learned some English, he soon found additional work as a dark room operator in the evenings and was eventually offered a partnership in the dark room business. After arranging his first bank loan, he was in business just one year after arriving to Canada.

Before long, he decided to enter the Real Estate business and opened his own company, later named ‘Kalmar Realty.’ Real estate also proved to be his gateway into the hotel business with the acquisition of the Constellation Hotel in 1964. From a roadside motor hotel of 120 rooms he engineered five additions over 25 years to build it into a 900-room convention hotel. Although he ruled over his empire with total control, he also acted as a mentor to so many of the employees that came through the hotel doors over the years.

A Lifetime of Philanthropy

George’s philanthropic career began with a trip to Israel in 1961 on a charity mission. From then on, he supported dozens of causes, from education, to hospitals, and synagogues in Israel, Kenya, his native Hungary, and the many local Canadian charities that requested his aid. Mr. Kalmar was also a strong supporter of Aish HaTorah.

At the Budapest Torah Donation

“Education was dear to his heart,” his son Michael Kalmar recalled. “When Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory, the rosh yeshiva of Aish HaTorah, came to town, they connected philosophically, sharing a fierce commitment to the same cause: responsibility for the continuity of the Jewish people. The two had a very strong respect for each other. Aish Toronto was one of the first places that he agreed to put his name. Until then, most of his philanthropy was given anonymously.

“My father understood the struggle that Israel went through to exist – and continues to fight over its legitimacy. The world saw what happened with Nazi Germany. They were lulled into a false sense of security. My father saw the existential threat facing the Jewish people and the world today.”As such, he was also a major donor for Iranium – a documentary made by the Clarion Fund highlighting the threat of a nuclear Iran. George used to show it to everyone he met.

“Although he lived until 90, he wasn’t hoping to live just another few years – he was hoping to live twice that number! There was so much more he wanted to do philanthropically,” Michael Kalmar said. “With my father, it wasn’t a matter of simply cutting a check. He wanted to know why. The letters are still pouring in about his kindness. You don’t hear about that until after the fact. To him every little bit counted, even if it was just a little to everyone who asked. He felt that he had an obligation to make a contribution in whatever way he could.”

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About the Author

A native New Yorker, Gavriel Horan left the city right after high school to travel the world in search of spirituality. His journey took him to over a dozen countries where he backpacked, hitchhiked, and worked on farms while studying Native American Shamanism, Eastern Religions, and Islamic Mysticism. He eventually found his way to Israel in 2000 and discovered that Judaism was what he was searching for all along! In Israel he met his wife Rachel, originally from New Jersey. They lived in the Holy Land for eight years, where Rabbi Horan learned and taught Torah while working as a journalist and marketing writer. The Horans recently moved back to New York with their three children to join the team at Aish Albany.

Visitor Comments: 2

(2)
Anonymous,
November 9, 2012 11:10 PM

Inspiration is an understatement this story really hit me.

The line ( loss GEORGE never came to terms with)is exactly the same with me . My parents were survivors and lived the TORAH life even when it was very hard and never complained about it. It is so wonderful to look at the picture of Mr Kalmar holding the Sefer Torah. I hope one day I can do the same and donate a Sefer Torah to my SHUL in the memory of my parents and the rest of my family who were killed in the Holocaust .May their memory will be a light for all future generations.

(1)
Margarita,
November 6, 2012 10:08 PM

inspiring story

inspiring story - many lessons to be learned from it. i just hope his legacy will keep on living in his son.

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I just got married and have an important question: Can we eat rice on Passover? My wife grew up eating it, and I did not. Is this just a matter of family tradition?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Torah instructs a Jew not to eat (or even possess) chametz all seven days of Passover (Exodus 13:3). "Chametz" is defined as any of the five grains (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye) that came into contact with water for more than 18 minutes. Chametz is a serious Torah prohibition, and for that reason we take extra protective measures on Passover to prevent any mistakes.

Hence the category of food called "kitniyot" (sometimes referred to generically as "legumes"). This includes rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, mustard, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. Even though kitniyot cannot technically become chametz, Ashkenazi Jews do not eat them on Passover. Why?

Products of kitniyot often appear like chametz products. For example, it can be hard to distinguish between rice flour (kitniyot) and wheat flour (chametz). Also, chametz grains may become inadvertently mixed together with kitniyot. Therefore, to prevent confusion, all kitniyot were prohibited.

In Jewish law, there is one important distinction between chametz and kitniyot. During Passover, it is forbidden to even have chametz in one's possession (hence the custom of "selling chametz"). Whereas it is permitted to own kitniyot during Passover and even to use it - not for eating - but for things like baby powder which contains cornstarch. Similarly, someone who is sick is allowed to take medicine containing kitniyot.

What about derivatives of kitniyot - e.g. corn oil, peanut oil, etc? This is a difference of opinion. Many will use kitniyot-based oils on Passover, while others are strict and only use olive or walnut oil.

Finally, there is one product called "quinoa" (pronounced "ken-wah" or "kin-o-ah") that is permitted on Passover even for Ashkenazim. Although it resembles a grain, it is technically a grass, and was never included in the prohibition against kitniyot. It is prepared like rice and has a very high protein content. (It's excellent in "cholent" stew!) In the United States and elsewhere, mainstream kosher supervision agencies certify it "Kosher for Passover" -- look for the label.

Interestingly, the Sefardi Jewish community does not have a prohibition against kitniyot. This creates the strange situation, for example, where one family could be eating rice on Passover - when their neighbors will not. So am I going to guess here that you are Ashkenazi and your wife is Sefardi. Am I right?

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270), known as Nachmanides, and by the acronym of his name, Ramban. Born in Spain, he was a physician by trade, but was best-known for authoring brilliant commentaries on the Bible, Talmud, and philosophy. In 1263, King James of Spain authorized a disputation (religious debate) between Nachmanides and a Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. Nachmanides reluctantly agreed to take part, only after being assured by the king that he would have full freedom of expression. Nachmanides won the debate, which earned the king's respect and a prize of 300 gold coins. But this incensed the Church: Nachmanides was charged with blasphemy and he was forced to flee Spain. So at age 72, Nachmanides moved to Jerusalem. He was struck by the desolation in the Holy City -- there were so few Jews that he could not even find a minyan to pray. Nachmanides immediately set about rebuilding the Jewish community. The Ramban Synagogue stands today in Jerusalem's Old City, a living testimony to his efforts.

It's easy to be intimidated by mean people. See through their mask. Underneath is an insecure and unhappy person. They are alienated from others because they are alienated from themselves.

Have compassion for them. Not pity, not condemning, not fear, but compassion. Feel for their suffering. Identify with their core humanity. You might be able to influence them for the good. You might not. Either way your compassion frees you from their destructiveness. And if you would like to help them change, compassion gives you a chance to succeed.

It is the nature of a person to be influenced by his fellows and comrades (Rambam, Hil. De'os 6:1).

We can never escape the influence of our environment. Our life-style impacts upon us and, as if by osmosis, penetrates our skin and becomes part of us.

Our environment today is thoroughly computerized. Computer intelligence is no longer a science-fiction fantasy, but an everyday occurrence. Some computers can even carry out complete interviews. The computer asks questions, receives answers, interprets these answers, and uses its newly acquired information to ask new questions.

Still, while computers may be able to think, they cannot feel. The uniqueness of human beings is therefore no longer in their intellect, but in their emotions.

We must be extremely careful not to allow ourselves to become human computers that are devoid of feelings. Our culture is in danger of losing this essential aspect of humanity, remaining only with intellect. Because we communicate so much with unfeeling computers, we are in danger of becoming disconnected from our own feelings and oblivious to the feelings of others.

As we check in at our jobs, and the computer on our desk greets us with, "Good morning, Mr. Smith. Today is Wednesday, and here is the agenda for today," let us remember that this machine may indeed be brilliant, but it cannot laugh or cry. It cannot be happy if we succeed, or sad if we fail.

Today I shall...

try to remain a human being in every way - by keeping in touch with my own feelings and being sensitive to the feelings of others.

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